Chapter 58: Cunning
Sea Clan Main City: Bottom City.
If one were to overlook the ancient city of Yatuo from above, they would only see the external prosperity of this main city. In reality, it has two parts. One part is naturally what people see, and the other is located beneath this massive landmass, meaning the portion submerged in the sea, which is also a large city in its own right.
Unlike the ancient city above, the Bottom City has more of a Sea Clan style. Although the layers of city buildings are somewhat chaotic, when combined, they resemble a giant pillar standing in the sea, supporting the land above.
Countless submersible boats drift in the surrounding sea. Although these submersible boats have mechanical structures, they are genuine sea creatures. They are not enslaved by the Sea Clan; the metal structures on their bodies are due to metallic cells. To be precise, these semi-mechanical sea creatures have a generational cooperative and breeding relationship with the Sea Clan.
Gurgle, gurgle~
The submersible boat's speed in the water is not fast, giving a leisurely feeling. Su Xiao sat on a soft cushion. It could be seen that the breeder of this submersible boat was quite fond of this old companion passed down from their grandfather's generation, unwilling to place hard chairs inside its inner cavity, even though they could charge extra for it.
Through the semi-transparent membrane above, Su Xiao saw the sunlight reflected by the seawater. After a while, the submersible boat arrived at a place resembling an underground port. The windows and other positions here had a layer of membrane, with seawater outside. The Sea Clan naturally didn't mind being in the water, but this was a trading port, so it was necessary to consider the situation of other races arriving here.
After wandering around the underground port for a while, Su Xiao came to the water curtain at the exit. From time to time, Sea Clan members passed through the film-like water curtain. This was a characteristic of the Sea Clan's Bottom City: one-third was a waterless area, while the rest was within the seawater.
[Deep Sea Slumber (Immortal Rank: Pendant): Grants underwater breathing ability...]
On specific occasions, this Immortal Rank pendant was extremely practical. After equipping it, Su Xiao walked directly out of the water curtain. The seawater surging around him was isolated less than 0.5 centimeters from his skin. An invisible air membrane allowed him to breathe freely.
The underwater city had a unique scenery. Unlike the imagined darkness, dampness, and cold, the surroundings were not only bright but also had a suitable water temperature. The algae clinging to the exterior of buildings swayed with the water currents. With a whoosh, several Sea Clan youths riding on the backs of mottled sharks sped past, creating large bubbles.
Due to the long distance, Su Xiao chose to take an underwater train. When he got off, he had arrived at a waterless area. Naturally, he switched back to [Wolf Blood: Moon Pendant] to ensure he could instantly kill the violator later.
Sunlight shone down from above, which surprised Su Xiao. He looked up and saw a ring-shaped sun in the sky. Although it wasn't a real sun, the sunlight it emitted was no different from the real thing.
He proceeded toward the target location. When Su Xiao arrived two kilometers from the target, he found it was a commercial area with several pedestrian streets and luxury tourist hotels.
Judging from the scenery before him, this was undoubtedly a prime location in the Sea Clan's Bottom City. Befuli's choice to hide here was very wise. The Sea Clan nobles residing here elevated the security level of this area.
Ultimately, Su Xiao determined that the target was located in the Sea Clan's Sea Heart Grand Hotel, the most luxurious hotel in this world, with very strong security.
This hotel had over 190 floors and was a building that pierced through the Bottom City. The upper third of it towered into the ancient city above, making it the second tallest building after the Sea God Temple.
Floors 1 to 20 of this hotel were a casino, floors 22 to 50 were banquet halls, restaurants, bars, and spas, floors 53 to 80 were entertainment areas, and floors 100 to 190 were all guest rooms.
From the geographical location of this grand hotel, one could guess its background. Moreover, the place was so large that finding the five violators inside was no easy task.
Su Xiao walked into an antique shop on the street. After giving the shop owner an exaggerated reward of 100 gold coins, he asked him to close for the day. With some physical assistance in falling asleep, the antique shop owner drifted into dreamland.
Pushing open the door to the back room, the furnishings inside were antique, and a faint scent of incense lingered. Soon, a summoning array was set up. To enhance its power, this was Su Xiao's improved version of the advanced summoning array.
First, he summoned Bubu Wang and Baha. With two muffled thuds, both Bubu and Baha were ejected from the summoning array, one hitting the ceiling, the other hanging from a chandelier.
Finally, there was the Irritable Little Elf Diagu. As Su Xiao activated the summoning, he heard a sound of something cutting through the air, followed by a *thwack* and the vibration of a sharp weapon embedding into the ceiling. That was the Irritable Little Elf's spike gun. As for him, he was pinned to the side.
A moment later, Bubu Wang, Baha, and the Irritable Little Elf Diagu stood or sat in a row, all facing Su Xiao, waiting for him to arrange the plan.
The plan was simple. First, determine which floor Befuli's guest room was on and who her teammates were. The Irritable Little Elf Diagu had previously refrained from investigating these details for fear of alerting the enemy.
Bubu Wang, Baha, and the Irritable Little Elf all had no problem with infiltration. As for Su Xiao, he was currently in the [Violator] disguise state, with a randomly selected appearance of a violator who had died in this world several world progressions ago.
Bubu Wang debugged several wave-free frequency earphones. Although called earphones, these things were actually mouthguards, worn on the inner molars, transmitting sound to the cochlea via bone conduction. Each wave-free frequency earphone was an independent transmitter capable of communicating with each other. These were manufactured by Bubu Wang, but they required coordination with its Little Bu satellite for precise transmission.
An hour later, under the guidance of a waiter, Su Xiao walked into the Sea Heart Grand Hotel. The entrance wasn't a lobby but a window selling chips. To avoid attracting attention, Su Xiao bought 1,000 gold coins worth of chips.
The casino on the first floor was crowded, with a faint smell of tobacco mixed with alcohol. Su Xiao completely restrained his aura and wandered around various gambling tables a few times without finding any violators on this floor.
At the same time, the Irritable Little Elf Diagu and Baha followed the elevator shaft to the 189th floor. Their task was to inspect from top to bottom. Baha could keenly sense the aura of violators, and then the Irritable Little Elf Diagu would track them.
Bubu Wang went to the 20th floor and began inspecting upward. It could blend into the environment, allowing it to both sense enemies and conduct close-range reconnaissance without risk.
Overall, the reconnaissance team's ability arrangement was reasonable, but the personality configuration was not. After Baha and the Irritable Little Elf Diagu started working together, the audio communication channel was almost ruined. All they did was exchange pleasantries with each other. Even more absurdly, these two didn't neglect their actual work while doing so.
Su Xiao stepped onto the elevator. A Sea Clan siren diagonally ahead cast him a glance and said with a hint of a smile, "Traveler?"
"Sort of."
Su Xiao's tone was casual and lazy, gradually entering the state of his previous disguise as the Holy Flame Alchemist.
"Care for a drink?"
"Maybe later."
"Alright~"
The Sea Clan siren smiled. Being politely rejected, she naturally didn't feel embarrassed.
Ding~
The elevator doors opened. Just as Su Xiao was about to get off the elevator with a few gamblers, a trace of aura flickered diagonally above, roughly around the 19th or 20th floor. That was the VIP area. Unfortunately, Su Xiao didn't have the membership to enter those two floors. He looked at the Sea Clan siren, and the smile on his face grew increasingly friendly.
Ding~
The elevator opened again. This was the 19th floor's VIP public area. There were far fewer gamblers, but they were all wealthy and influential. The Sea Clan siren in an evening gown reluctantly stepped out of the elevator. Upon closer inspection, one would notice a thin, barely perceptible Spirit Shadow Thread entering the back of her neck, precisely between the only two sparse, colorful scales on her nape.
"Don't be rash. If you need anything, we can negotiate. This isn't worth it."
The Sea Clan siren appeared calm and elegant, but from her tightly clenched stack of golden chips, it was clear she was quite nervous.
"..."
Su Xiao stepped up to a gambling table. This table wasn't large, allowing five gamblers to play simultaneously. Three had already lost and left. Among the remaining two, a fat-headed octopus clan member was slowly peeling open a card. When he saw his hole card, he deflated like a punctured balloon, threw down his cards, and dejectedly got up to leave.
Only one person remained at the gambling table: a man in a black tuxedo with a smiling face. His name was Yingxie, a notorious violator at the Ninth Rank. Unlike old yinbis like Huishenshi and Shenfu, this guy was so infamous he stank, taking pleasure in tormenting contractors weaker than himself or the natives of the mission world.
Su Xiao estimated that this was unlikely to be Befuli's teammate. Befuli was indeed a madwoman obsessed with hunting hunters or enjoying being hunted by them, but she wouldn't look down on a teammate like Yingxie.
Su Xiao sat down opposite Yingxie. As he sat down, the Sea Clan siren beside him, though somewhat reluctant, also sat down and casually placed her stack of chips on the table.
Tap, tap, tap~
One by one, Soul Coins fell from Su Xiao's hand, stacking into a pile. Seeing this, Yingxie across from him lit a cigarette, tossed down his lighter, and said with a smile, "Brother, no need to be so serious about gambling."
"..."
Su Xiao didn't answer. He simply materialized 50 Soul Coins and, with a clatter, tossed 25 of them to Yingxie across the table.
"Treasure every word you can still speak."
Baha landed on Su Xiao's shoulder. Seeing Baha, Yingxie across from him looked suspicious, as if it seemed familiar. He frowned in thought for a few seconds, then suddenly seemed to realize something.
"Demon Hawk..."
"Shh~, treasure every word you can still speak."
Baha made a gesture with one wing, like a finger held to its beak, signaling Yingxie to be quiet.
Yingxie's face turned extremely ugly, and his gaze darkened. But since his life was more important, he didn't choose to suddenly stand up and rush to the window to jump out. Instead, he sat there obediently.
The reason was the obvious gap in strength. If Su Xiao were to be positioned among the Ninth Rank, he, along with Henren Xiong and Demon Scythe Tailed, were almost at the limit of the Ninth Rank. Henren Xiong was the most extreme, while Su Xiao and Demon Scythe Tailed were one step away from the extreme.
As for the top echelon of the Ninth Rank going up against these three, it was better to spare them. They had worked hard to reach their current level of strength.
Moreover, Yingxie was already relatively dangerous when facing the top echelon of the Ninth Rank. He had come to Wind Sea Continent this time because the ticket to Wind Sea Continent was cheaper after the Mark Struggle began. He had simply hitched a ride and had no intention of competing for the initial mark. Otherwise, he wouldn't be at the Sea Heart Grand Hotel now.
Realizing his desperate situation, Yingxie immediately tried to contact the violators at the top of the hotel to create chaos and escape. But what shocked him was that all his communication methods had failed.
"Don't bother. For the next 10 minutes, you can't contact anyone. I heard you like playing life-and-death games. Today, we'll play one with you. See these 25 Soul Coins? That's your bet. If you can win all 25 Soul Coins from my boss within 10 minutes, we'll let you go."
Baha spoke. Its sharp, dark-blue pupils made Yingxie feel a faint sting at the back of his neck, as if this Demon Hawk could appear behind his head at any moment and tear off his head along with his spine.
Not to mention that Spirit Shadow Threads were wrapped around Yingxie's neck and arms. With Su Xiao's current level of swordsmanship, adding Blade Aura to the Spirit Shadow Threads was naturally no problem. Coupled with the energy cutting power provided by the Blood Spear Grandmaster, the Spirit Shadow Threads were enough to sever Yingxie's neck.
"Don't say you have to trust us. Do you have a choice?"
Hearing Baha's words, Yingxie took out a deck of cards common in the Paradise. Although he didn't dare to cheat now, he was still quite confident in his card skills.
Shuffle, shuffle, shuffle. The cards were dealt. Yingxie found that his hand was three Aces. He looked at his hole cards: Ace, King, King. According to the game rules, this was the best possible hand. His expression froze. He really hadn't cheated; it was just a random deal.
"How about we call this round off?"
"You're full of shit. You get a bad hand and want to renege?"
Although Baha's tone was full of killing intent, it was somewhat expectantly tilting its head to look at Su Xiao's hand. Suddenly, the smile on its face disappeared. If they were playing Landlord and Su Xiao had the first move, this hand could achieve a "spring": pairs of 3s, 4s, and 5s. The problem was, this wasn't Landlord.
"You cheated."
Baha threw down the cards. Hearing this, Su Xiao's right hand fingers curled, and the Spirit Shadow Threads binding Yingxie's neck and arms tightened.
"I... I didn't!"
Yingxie's tone was extremely agitated. Although it looked like he had cheated, he really hadn't this time.
"I'll give you one last chance. Which floor are Befuli and the others on?"
Baha asked.
"Probably the 185th floor."
Yingxie confessed without hesitation. As fellow violators staying in the same grand hotel, he naturally guessed the approximate floor of those people.
"Who's with Befuli?"
"Giant Hand, Ice Mage, Dreamweaver."
Yingxie only named three people. This meant that one violator had never left that guest room and thus hadn't revealed their trail.
"That's everything you want to know. So, can I go now..."
Yingxie's words were cut short when he saw Su Xiao holding a [Corruption Bomb]. This was a bomb Yingxie had secretly placed in a spatial gap earlier, intending to detonate it to escape or, if possible, blow up the hunter opposite him. Although he knew the probability was low, Yingxie still held onto that faint hope.
Su Xiao placed the [Corruption Bomb] on the table. Just then, the lights in the gambling hall flickered, drawing the attention of all the gamblers.
Su Xiao got up and left. The Yingxie sitting opposite had disappeared. A trace of blood remaining in the air was silently sucked into an opening alternate space gap. The [Corruption Bomb] also vanished without a trace.
Through this violator named Yingxie, Su Xiao had roughly tested the performance of the [Violator] title. Title Effect 3: Kill and Swap ability was harder to achieve than expected, and there was a disguise delay of about 15 to 20 seconds to complete the disguise swap.
As for Title Effect 4: Absolute Fear, it was more useful than imagined. As long as he successfully inflicted "Will Fear" on a lone violator, it could not only block all their communication methods but, if Su Xiao wanted, also temporarily deprive them of their ability to speak.
Although he had successfully found Befuli's exact location, the guest room on the 185th floor contained not only Befuli but also her four temporary teammates. If he guessed correctly, three of these four teammates were combat types, and one was a perception type.
Given the alertness of Ninth Rank violators, luring them out one by one was impossible. Disguising as a room service waiter was even less reliable. After thinking for a moment, Su Xiao went to the restroom. When he came out, he had changed his clothes and appearance to that of a violator who had died in this world over a dozen world progressions ago.
Su Xiao no longer restrained his aura. After transferring elevators twice, he finally reached the 185th floor. He stopped in front of a guest room that contained four different auras. There should be five people in this room, but since he wasn't a perception type, he couldn't sense the perception-type violator beyond a 10-meter range.
Knock, knock, knock.
Su Xiao knocked on the door. Even through the door, he could sense the four increasingly tense auras inside. One of them, the iciest, like a millennium-old frozen corpse, slowly approached the door. The person said coldly, "Who is it!"
"Shenfu knows you're here. If he comes directly, it'll be awkward for both sides, so he sent me."
Su Xiao said this because he was certain of one thing: someone like Befuli would never be Shenfu's pawn. Moreover, their cooperation might already be on the verge of collapse, or even about to turn hostile.
The reason for saying this was that if their cooperation was still solid, Befuli's 8.75% [Initial Mark] would have already been handed over to Shenfu. Then both sides would hide in the shadows and wait for the benefits.
But that wasn't the current situation. Although Shenfu seemed to be helping Befuli hide, in reality, he just didn't want Su Xiao to find Befuli before him.
It didn't matter who Befuli's 8.75% [Initial Mark] went to, as long as it didn't fall into the hands of Su Xiao or Henren Xiong. That was the only way Shenfu could lose.
Now, Henren Xiong was trapped in the Eternal Freeze Icefield and couldn't extricate himself. Shenfu only needed to guard against Su Xiao.
The Ice Mage in the guest room, upon hearing that it was someone from Shenfu's side, relaxed a bit but didn't let down their guard. However, the spatial fluctuations in the room gradually subsided.
This was the opportunity Su Xiao needed. All teleportation arrays had a characteristic: if they were activated but then stopped midway, there would be a brief period of unavailability. Even if this period was very short, it was enough.
"We don't welcome..."
Puchi!
A long knife pierced through the door panel, stabbing into the head of the Ice Mage inside. The knife was too fast and too sudden, and since the Ice Mage was half a magic type, they were instantly killed.
The guest room suddenly fell silent. Su Xiao dispelled his disguise while pulling the long knife out of the door panel. It turned out that this situation couldn't be turned into a game of Werewolf with the violators. That required a larger environment, and the violator team needed to be on the move. Now, with several violators holed up in one place, there was no chance to leverage the [Violator] title's strength.
Su Xiao used the Dragon Shadow Flash ability to enter the guest room and saw four people standing on a teleportation array that had already been activated.
Among them, the tank-type Giant Hand was exceptionally decisive. Ignoring the risk of teleportation, he punched Befuli beside him, forcing her to take a few steps back and out of the teleportation range.
Giant Hand, Dreamweaver, and the other two violators disappeared from the spot. Ninth Rank violators were all very cunning. Upon confirming that it was Su Xiao who had arrived, they immediately sold out their teammate. These three all knew one thing: the beheader Bai Ye had come for Befuli. Relying on the shoddy teleportation array beneath their feet to escape a hunter with the Old Hunter title was a joke.
"Three cowardly bastards."
Befuli was extremely displeased and annoyed. Wearing a black vest and exuding a tomboyish aura, she deliberately squinted at Su Xiao and said, "Hunter, want to make a deal?"
"..."
Su Xiao didn't speak. The long knife in his hand pointed diagonally at the carpet, blood dripping from it.
"Tch."
Befuli took out the 8.75% [Initial Mark] and made as if to crush it, but Su Xiao remained silent.
"Aren't you afraid I'll destroy this [Initial Mark]?"
Befuli's eyes narrowed a few degrees. She felt she had suffered a huge loss. If she had known, she wouldn't have haggled and would have sold this thing to Shenfu.
"It's more important to me that Shenfu doesn't get this [Initial Mark]."
Su Xiao spoke. Hearing this, Befuli's gaze turned even darker. She had thought as much, which was why she hadn't directly crushed this [Initial Mark].
"I knew there was no good reason for Xiao Ge to be so generous all of a sudden. Sure enough, this [Initial Mark] is crucial in your struggle with Shenfu."
"..."
"Name your price. As low as you want. Although being hunted by a hunter is thrilling and exciting, being hunted by you... I'm afraid I'd be dead."
"..."
Su Xiao picked up a piece of candy from the table and tossed it over.
"Deal."
Befuli grinned. She tossed the [Initial Mark] in her hand, then leaned back and fell backward, crashing through the window and disappearing into the high-altitude wind.
After Befuli retreated, Su Xiao sheathed his long knife. He pulled out a Contract Parchment from thin air. This violator, Befuli, was also a contract expert, but she couldn't threaten Su Xiao.
Su Xiao sensed that the security personnel of the Sea Heart Hotel had already rushed to the corridor outside the door. He took out a Soul Crystal Core covered in inscriptions and threw it to the ground. A demon teleportation array appeared. Bubu Wang and Baha emerged and stepped onto the array. As for the Irritable Little Elf Diagu, he had his own means of retreat.
When the spatial fluctuations subsided, Su Xiao had returned to the Lord's Manor. This time, in seizing Befuli's [Initial Mark], the [Violator] title was only a small test. It didn't play a crucial role. The main advantage was still the combat power, coupled with the fact that Ninth Rank violators were all slippery. Straightforward violators like those at the Sixth or Seventh Rank who would fight him head-on were hard to come by now. The ones he encountered now all ran faster than the others.
Because he had been locking onto the violator's aura, Su Xiao didn't have time to check the prompts that appeared. Now that he had some leisure, he chose to view the prompt list.
[Prompt: The beast clan army under your command has captured the "Crystal Forest."]
[The Winter Territory has gained a new output: Crystal Resin.]
[The territory evaluation of the Winter Territory has been promoted to S-Rank (This is the highest territory evaluation).]
Seeing this prompt, Su Xiao knew it was time to go and settle things with the old Beast King.
PS: (Tomorrow is Sunday, a day off to prevent a relapse of the old illness. Please forgive me, dear readers.)